Envelop-seal.



F. SHANNON.

ENVELOP SEAL.

APPLICATION FILED IBB. 9, 1910.

Patented Sept. 27, 1910.

No 0., Iusmmrrou. :4 c.

FLOYD SHANNON, OF WELLSBURG, WEST VIRGINIA.

ENVELOP-SEAL.

Specification of Letters Patent. Application filed February 9, 1910.

Patented Sept. 27, 1910. Serial No. 542,888.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FLOYD SHANNON, a citizen of the United. States, residing at VVellsburg, in the county of Brooke, State of West Virginia, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Envelop-Seals; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to envelop seals of that general class designed to secure the closing flap to the body of the envelop so that the contents of the envelop can not be tampered with by unauthorized persons without mutilating the envelop.

The object of this invention is to provide an envelop seal simpler in construction than similar devices of its kind and which may be applied to unduly mutilating the same.

The invention consists of a single piece of wire bent anchor shape, the flukes of the anchor being provided with novel means for holding them normally spread apart as will hereinafter be more fully described and claimed.

For a more detailed description of the invention reference may be had to the accompanying drawing in which- F igu1:;e 1 is a view in elevation of the reverse side of an envelop equipped with my improved seal. Fig. 2 is a view in elevation of an envelop with portions of the front side broken away to disclose the seal. Fig. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken on the line 3-3 Fig. 2. Fig. 4 is a detail perspective view of the seal.

Referring now to the drawing the numeral 8 designates an envelop having a closing flap 9, both of the usual and well-known kind.

The seal comprising the subject matter of this invention consists of a single length of wire looped upon itself adjacent one end as shown at 10 and thence extended at substan tially right angles to this loop to form a straight shank 11, the free end of which 1s split for a portion of its length to provide a pair of resilient fingers 12 which latter are bent back along the shank in the nature of anchor flukes. Each finger 12 is provided on its inner side with an eye 13 formed by splitting the finger or otherwise which enl i i l any ordinary envelop without gages the shank and operates to normally hold the finger spaced from the shank.

By referring to the drawing it will be seen that the resilient fingers 12 extending from the extreme end of the shank permit of the shank being punched through the envelop flap when inserting the seal, thus obviating the necessity of manufacturing the envelop flap or envelop body with slits or similar openings to receive the shank.

l n applying the seal to anenvelop the resilient fingers 12 are inserted through the reverse side of the envelop flap 9 until the transverse loop 10 comes in contact with the inner side thereof, the seal then being rotated so that the flap of the envelop is closed when the fingers 12 are inserted through the envelop body until the free ends of the fingers have cleared the opening formed in the envelop body by the insertion of the fingers when the fingers will immediately assume the position shown in Fig. 2 and prevent the withdrawal of the seal. It will be seen that when the seal is in operative position the flap can not be raised without causing the seal to be drawn upward toward the flap which operation will force the fingers to mutilate the envelop adjacent the opening therein as long as this raising movement of the seal is continued. It is obvious that the contents of the envclop can not be tampered with without leaving conspicuous traces as evidence of such tampering.

From the foregoing connection with the ing, it is thought that operation of my invention will be easily understood without a more extended explanation, it being understood that various changes may be made in the minor details of construction within the scope of the appended claim.

I claim An envelop seal consisting of a shank havii g a flap engaging head at one end, and a plurality of envelop body engaging fingers at the other end diverging from the extreme end of said shank toward said head.

In testimony whereof, I afiix my signature, in presence of two witnesses.

FLOYD SHANNON. Witnesses C. B. MAGEE, F. A. CHAPMAN.

description taken in accompanying drawthe construction and; 

